Who will adopt e-bikes in India and why? Profiling potential e-bike users based on their sociopsychological characteristics

IF 3.5 2区工程技术 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED

Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour Pub Date : 2025-06-02 DOI:10.1016/j.trf.2025.05.027

Mohammad Zabiulla, Prasanta K. Sahu, Bandhan Bandhu Majumdar

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Abstract

Electric bicycles (e-bikes) have the potential to combat the negative externalities of transportation if employed as an alternative to motorized vehicles for short trips. Past research on e-bike adoption examined various extrinsic drivers and barriers to using e-bikes, however, little is known about the sociopsychological determinants and psychographic segmentation of prospective e-bike users. To comprehend the unobserved heterogeneity towards e-bike adoption and identify different attitudinal segments of potential e-bike users, we surveyed 577 e-bike non-users in Hyderabad, India and clustered them based on their sociopsychological attitudes towards adopting e-bikes. Three latent classes are identified: Enthusiasts (35%), Optimists (41%), and Sceptics (24%). Enthusiasts are more likely to adopt e-bikes followed by Optimists, while Sceptics have the lowest adoption intentions. We found that social influence, personal norms, e-bike awareness, and pro-environment attitudes significantly predict the adoption intentions of Optimists and Enthusiasts, while Sceptics are influenced by personal norms, perceived usefulness, and e-bike for commuting. Among socio-demographic traits, income, and shorter trip lengths positively influence Optimists’ and Enthusiasts’ adoption intentions but negatively influence Sceptics’ intentions to adopt e-bikes. From the effect size measures, we observed significant medium to large size gaps between Sceptics and Enthusiasts, and Sceptics and Optimists in personal norms, pro-environment attitudes, using e-bikes for non-commuting purposes, and adoption intentions. Also, individuals sharing similar socio-demographic characteristics but belonging to different latent classes were found to have significant differences in their attitudes towards e-bikes. These findings recommend class-specific policy measures to minimize psychological disparities among potential users and foster e-bike adoption in emerging markets.

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谁会在印度使用电动自行车，为什么？根据社会心理学特征对潜在的电动自行车用户进行分析

电动自行车（e-bikes）有潜力对抗交通的负面外部性，如果被用作短途旅行机动车辆的替代品。过去关于电动自行车使用的研究考察了使用电动自行车的各种外在驱动因素和障碍，然而，对潜在电动自行车用户的社会心理决定因素和心理细分知之甚少。为了理解人们对电动自行车采用的未观察到的异质性，并确定潜在电动自行车用户的不同态度，我们调查了印度海德拉巴的577名未使用电动自行车的人，并根据他们对使用电动自行车的社会心理学态度对他们进行了聚类。三个潜在的类别被确定：狂热者（35%），乐观主义者（41%）和怀疑论者（24%）。狂热者更有可能接受电动自行车，其次是乐观主义者，而怀疑论者的接受意愿最低。我们发现，社会影响、个人规范、电动自行车意识和环保态度显著预测乐观主义者和狂热者的使用意愿，而怀疑论者则受到个人规范、感知有用性和通勤电动自行车的影响。在社会人口学特征中，收入和较短的出行距离正向影响乐观主义者和狂热者的使用意愿，而负向影响怀疑论者的使用意愿。从效应量测量中，我们观察到怀疑论者和狂热者之间、怀疑论者和乐观主义者之间在个人规范、亲环境态度、非通勤目的使用电动自行车和采用意图方面存在显著的中大型差距。此外，具有相似社会人口特征但属于不同潜在阶层的个人对电动自行车的态度也存在显著差异。这些研究结果建议采取针对阶层的政策措施，以尽量减少潜在用户之间的心理差异，并促进新兴市场对电动自行车的采用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour Multiple-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

14.60%

发文量

239

审稿时长

71 days

期刊介绍： Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour focuses on the behavioural and psychological aspects of traffic and transport. The aim of the journal is to enhance theory development, improve the quality of empirical studies and to stimulate the application of research findings in practice. TRF provides a focus and a means of communication for the considerable amount of research activities that are now being carried out in this field. The journal provides a forum for transportation researchers, psychologists, ergonomists, engineers and policy-makers with an interest in traffic and transport psychology.